By Sean Green | STRIKEWERX Marketing and Communication Director
BOSSIER CITY, La. — STRIKEWERX, Air Force Global Strike Command’s innovation hub, will work with three companies to create ultramodern training technology for the command.
Adaptive Immersion Technologies, JANUS Research Group, and Long Wave Incorporated will aid the AFGSC Office of the Chief Scientist in creating effective, modern technologies and training methods for better trained, more competent, proficient, and skilled Airmen.
“These solutions will combine the latest developments in psychology and understanding how people learn, to speed up training and improve retention,” said Dr. Donna Senft, AFGSC chief scientist. “This challenge has identified modern, agile, and sustainable training tools to improve the overall effectiveness of training throughout the command.”
Three areas have been identified by subject matter experts that could be significantly improved by this Challenge:
- Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) – A high-fidelity, enjoyable, immersive training experience at the individual and collective level on how best to respond to an aircraft accident scenario.
- B-52 Communications Training – A formal training unit for students, which doesn’t currently exist, at the individual and collective level.
- E-4B Communications Maintenance Trainer – A trainer that overcomes a lack of aircraft for hands-on training so Airmen can perform standardized, communications system repairs.
AIT will create a solution for the EOD use case, JANUS will develop training for the B-52 comms use case, and Longwave will focus its efforts on the E-4B maintenance use case.
“It is an incredible honor for Adaptive Immersion to be selected to develop a prototype solution for the ATC Challenge,” said Phillip Mangos, AIT president and chief scientist. “This critical technology will provide EOD operators an immersive, hands-on solution to practice mission essential skills—and develop muscle memory for extremely dangerous tasks—in a controlled, safe, and engaging virtual world.”
“We are eager to demonstrate our approach to solving AFGSC’s training modernization gaps for the B-52 with training that will act as a force multiplier for instructors by allowing them to focus their time on the areas where individual Airmen need the most assistance,” said Kishan Shetty, principal software engineer for JANUS Research. “JANUS’s Javelin solution suite along with Air Force investments will provide training at the point of need via classroom, web and mobile devices.”
“Long Wave and our partners, Executive Airborne Solutions and Crescent Systems, are incredibly excited and appreciative of this opportunity,” said Tom Conroe, vice president of Longwave Inc. “We hope this will enable future maintenance and operational training for these critical NC3 warriors who deserve the best training tools we can provide.”
The companies were selected via the STRIKEWERX Advanced Training Concepts Challenge. STRIKEWERX launched the challenge in October 2021, during which market research identified 25 finalists from more than 100 submissions, presented virtually. Eight were selected to present at an in-person showcase held in May 2022.
These solutions will be further developed in the prototyping stage. If the prototypes prove beneficial, they could be scaled for operational use.